Winter has come early for many us and that means it is time to hibernate the project cars and the Convertibles until better weather emerges in the Spring. It’s also a great time to get together with fellow enthusiasts to plan local meets and get togethers, help a fellow SAABer out with a project they are working on, or make the list of parts to hunt for at the next meet.

Planning is now underway for SOC’15 in Lexington, KY August 13 – 16, 2015. The planning committee is working through the logistics for the event with an on-site meeting planned for the mid February. From there, menus and pricing will be defined and made available to Aaron Clow, our dedicated webmaster, who will build out the online registration page on the Convention website. We hope to target early April to begin accepting event registration.

But why wait to start your Convention planning? Now is a great time to book your room for SOC15 and get a jump start to your summer. Reservations for the Griffin Gate Marriott (host property) can now be made online!

As an alternative, you can call their toll-free line at 877-901-6632 and be sure to mention the SAAB Owners Convention to get the group rate.

Lastly, I’d like to extend a big thank you to Ria Levine, who stepped into the role of Club Secretary to fill the vacancy we had with the position.

PS: Follow the club on Facebook and SAABnet for more Convention details as they become available.

The Saab Club of North America would like to welcome our newest Saab Service Provider, Svensson Automotive, in Lafayette, CA. Svensson Automotive is offering a 10% discount on parts and service when you present your Club Membership card at the time of service write up. The shop is an official Saab Service Center providing geniune Saab replacement parts and factory trained and experienced Saab technicians. Check out the Saab Service and Discount page for contact information, and thank Svensson Automotive for their dedication to Saab Club members when you stop by!

Nevs’ Electric Vehicle Shown Today

Today Nevs presented the Saab 9-3 Electric Vehicle as designed and produced as part of a prototype series in Trollhättan.

The car is a modified Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan where the batteries are placed under the floor, keeping the full interior space as well as the luggage compartment intact. With that, the Saab 9-3 EV is just as practical as the Saab 9-3 Aero with gasoline engine.

The Saab 9-3’s famous driving-experience is of course preserved in the EV, helped by its low center of gravity and a 50/50 weight distribution.

“We are happy to present the result of Nevs engineering into a real Saab EV product. The Saab cars’ well-known performance and safety is maintained and we foresee a very good product for the market. When we developed the Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan Model Year 14, we focused on enhancing the driving experience, safety and quality. And the starting point for our development of the Electric Vehicle project was to maintain all the good attributes and characteristics”, said Stig Nodin, Vice President Engineering and Product Development.

The car shown in Trollhättan today is one from the first prototype series of cars and it was produced in the Trollhättan plant in May.

The car is equipped with lithium-ion batteries from Beijing National Battery Technology, a company within the Chinese group of green tech companies owned by Kai Johan Jiang’s company National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd.

In this phase of the development the performance of the prototype series are limited to:

The range for this prototype series of cars is approximately 200 km.

Acceleration 0-100 km/h, 0-60 mph 10 sec.

Maximum speed of 120 km/h.

Engine power 140 hp, 100 kW.

The prototype series have multiple reasons:

To enhance the understanding of EV’s in the complete company.

To serve as a reference for specification of coming production model(s).

Do you want to test your knowledge on Saab? If you think you can tell the difference between an Aero Convertible and the Talladega Auto Coupe then you’re probably on your way to becoming an expert. http://www.motorparks.co.uk/ has a great section on practically every vehicle the Saab has ever built from 1977 onwards. Head over to the Saab technical pages and discover a wealth of information. Data sheets cover over 1,200 different Saab models from the past 30 years. It’s the perfect spot to sharpen your knowledge on not only your most loved models, but vehicles you never even knew existed!